How fog might have revealed the future of NFL camera angles

Sunday Night Football between the Falcons and Patriots wasn’t the great Super Bowl rematch we were all hoping for. But it did bring us a new viewing experience after a thick fog rolled into Gillette Stadium, leaving the normal broadcast view unwatchable.

Instead, we got a Madden-esque view of the game. It allowed viewers to watch plays unfold, and see things from a much better perspective as if you were the quarterback.

What a terrible play call that was.

Anyway, the view drew great reception on Twitter, with a lot of “how come we don’t get this all the time?”

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert did some digging, and the reasons, in short, are as follows:

While Sunday night’s change in view might not change the viewing experience immediately, it might spark networks to find ways to innovate how the game is delivered.

Nowadays, there are so many camera angles available for people to take in their football. The All-22 and High End Zone angles that are posted after games allows for people to see plays unfold and get a view of every player on the field. But those aren’t available live.

That’s not to say the All-22 would become the camera angle for games. It’s too far back and most people can’t analyze football like that.

But an interest was sparked with last night’s change in viewing experience. TV networks might not be able to deliver on it immediately, but for the networks, broadcasting those primetime games would be foolish to not try to capitalize on adding that to their broadcast.

It’s one of those things where just because something has been done a certain way for a long time or forever, doesn’t make it the best way. Seeing a broadcast from the Madden view would be incredible to watch during a Packers game, as we would get a better perspective of what Aaron Rodgers is thinking.

But networks need to find a way to make that happen. Otherwise people will find other avenues to watch their football.